Recognising the past, namely the community that has enabled the University of Minho’s Department of Information Systems (DSI) to grow over the last 25 years, while at the same time looking to the future, which will be one of revolution due to the constant changes in the digital world, without forgetting the need, with interventions in such different areas, to think about the DSI’s identity. These were some of the points that marked the ceremony of what is the only Department of Information Systems at a Portuguese University.
For the DSI’s director, Rui José, there are areas of innovation that should be explored and in which the department wants to have a say, such as the areas of ‘psychology, humanities, communication’, among others.
The DSI is the youngest of the School of Engineering’s nine departments. For this very reason, it is almost expected to be extra creative in terms of innovation. Speaking to RUM, president Pedro Arezes wished the department a ‘successful path’.
Representing UMinho’s rector, the vice-rector for Organisational Transformation and Administrative Simplification, Luís Amaral, who originated the department, warned that the next few years will be challenging, even though the academy is starting to breathe a sigh of relief in financial terms.
After several years of underfunding, UMinho will have 21 million euros of balances carried forward.
Projects such as the Data Centre and the Factory of the Future, new technological infrastructures that will be born on the Azurém campus, will help boost the future of the DSI, which is currently involved in various Recovery and Resilience Plan projects.
The President of the School of Engineering, Professor Pedro Arezes, congratulated the department on its journey and wished it every success: ‘I hope that the DSI continues to promote academic excellence and train our students for the challenges of the future and, together with EEUM and UMinho, strengthens its reputation and impact, and continues to enjoy the success that everyone recognises. Long live the DSI.
More info and photos of the event at: https://25anos.dsi.uminho.pt/agenda
SOURCE: RUM
